I'm Peelin' the Love. Are you?

Hey y'all!  Have I ever told you what my favorite fruit is?  No?  It's the banana.  I love everything that I've ever tasted that's made with bananas.  Banana bread, banana sandwiches, banana in my oatmeal, banana ice cream, banana everything! 

Did you know that bananas are super healthy?

• They help regulate and/or lower blood pressure
• Studies have shown that kids who eat a banana a day are 34% less likely to develop asthma
• Bananas can help reduce the risk of childhood leukemia and they are associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer
• They support heat health and can help reduce a person's risk of cardiovascular disease
• They help reduce the risk of stroke, muscle loss, and preserve bone density and aid memory
• Lowers blood glucose levels in Type 1 diabetics and improve blood sugar, insulin and lipids in Type 2 diabetics
• Can be used to treat diarrhea

When I was contacted by Dole to be a Blog Ambassador for their Peel the Love Tour I was so excited.    What is Peel the Love?  It's a year long Dole campaign that celebrates the fun, irreverence, and whimsical side of bananas.  They are doing a Peel the Love "Banana Cabana" Tour that is traveling coast-to-coast.  It's going to cover 26 cities and luckily Jacksonville is one of them!

Here's the dates that they will be at the Winn - Dixies in the Jacksonville area. 

7/20 – Winn-Dixie (96076 Lofton Square Ct., Yulee, FL) – 10am-1pm

7/20 – Winn-Dixie (947 Amelia Plaza, Fernandina Beach, FL) – 3-6pm

7/21 – Winn-Dixie (450078 SR 200, Callahan, FL) – 11am-2pm

7/24 – Winn-Dixie (1545 County Rd. 220, Orange Park, FL) – 10am-1pm

7/24 – Winn-Dixie (290 Solana Rd., Ponte Vedra, FL) – 3-6pm

7/25 – Winn-Dixie (703 Chaffee Rd., Jacksonville, FL) – 10am-1pm

7/25 – Winn-Dixie (5647 Roosevelt Blvd., Jacksonville, FL) – 3-6pm

Not in the Jacksonville area?  Click HERE to find out when the Peel the Love "Banana Cabana" Tour will be coming to a city near you!

Here's one of my favorite banana desserts.  I even made this for myself for dessert on vacation!



Grilled Peanut Butter Banana

Ingredients
1 banana
1 T PB2 mixed with .5 T water
1-2 T sugar free maple syrup
Cinnamon

Directions

1. Spray a piece of aluminum foil with pan spray
2. Slice your banana in half lengthwise and lay on the foil
3. Spread the PB2 on one half, sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle half of the syrup
4. Put the two halves back together, drizzle with the other half of the syrup, and wrap the tinfoil tightly around the banana
5. Place on the grill for 10-15 minutes until the banana is warm, soft and brown.
6. Let cool for 2-3 minutes before eating

{It can also be done in a 350 degree oven for 15-25 minutes}

Option 2:  

Directions

1. Wrap whole banana in sprayed tinfoil
2. Grill for 10-15 minutes
3. When it's cool enough to handle {but still warm} mush it with a fork
4. Lay out 8 graham cracker halves
5. Spread PB2 on 4 halves, and top with a chocolate square.  
6. On the other 4 halves spread a thick layer of the warm banana mush.  
7. Put a PB2 cracker and a banana cracker together

Voila!  A Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana S'more!  Perfect, healthy camping dessert!

What's your favorite banana recipe?  Are y'all going to join me at Winn-Dixie???  

Baked Marshmallow Bananas

The dessert I made for our Iron Chef competition was so simple.  I'm not going to lie, I picked Baked Bananas with Roasted Marshmallows because it's what I wanted for dessert.  It would have been prettier if I had a blow torch to roast the marshmallows with.

Bananas have a whole bunch {pardon the pun} of health benefits.

• The average banana has 467 mg of potassium.  It may prevent high blood pressure and atherosclarosis.
• They protect against stomach ulcers
• Slow digesting
• Good source of fiber
• Helps your eyesight
• Promotes kidney health

This dessert hits the spot for me though.  Healthy, sweet, simple, and it has a bit of crunch.

Baked Bananas with Broiled Marshmallows
1 banana
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon (depending on taste)
1 T sugar free maple syrup
1/4 cup mini marshmallows (enough to cover the top of the ramekin)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Spray small ramekin with pan spray
3. Slice banana into small chunks in a medium bowl
4. Sprinkle with cinnamon and maple syrup and toss to coat (or you can just put it all ontop of the bananas in the ramekin)
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes until soft. 
6. When it's done turn broiler to HIGH and top bananas with marshmallows
7. Place ramekin back in oven on top rack and broil for 1-3 minutes until marshmallows are brown and charred {watch them carefully!!  They go from slightly brown to burned VERY quickly}

I personally like mine slightly brown and Ken likes his basically burnt.  How much you roast them is your personal preference.  I bet that apples would also taste good under the marshmallows.  

What other fruits would be good topped with marshmallows?

Grillin' and Chillin'

Not many of the NaBloPoMo prompts have really "prompted" me this month but, today's came at the perfect time.  The prompt is "How long can you last in a power outage?"  I've just begun to start planning our summer vacation.  I know you're thinking "what does power outages have to do with vacations?"  Well, we are unplugging, boarding the dogs and going on a 4-5 nite camping trip this summer.  We actually love to camp.  We've been a few times but, something has always caused us to cut our trip short.  This time we're boarding the dogs and making sure we have all of the necessary stuff.  

I love to camp because it's a healthy activity.  I always come back a few pounds lighter (and with slightly more toned glutes.  Hiking boots are HEAVY!)  There's a whole slew of reasons why camping is healthy [a quick Google search will bring up a bunch of sites]  

1)  It's exercise that doesn't seem like exercise.
Think about it.  What do you do when you go camping?  You hike. EXERCISE. You swim. EXERCISE.  You fish.  EXERCISE.  You bike.  Yet again, EXERCISE.  You might even go horseback riding.  Hmmmm.....I think that's EXERCISE.  There are a number of other things you can do while you're camping.  None of it seems like exercise but it is.  

2)  You reduce stress.  
Believe it or not stress takes a toll on your health.  When you're camping there's rarely a cell phone signal, there's no place to plug up a laptop, and people rarely bring a TV.  [Anyway, if you're going to bring all that stuff why not stay home??]  There's no one to bother you, it's just you and nature.  Plus seeing a billion stars at nite will relax anybody.  

3)  You sleep better
All the extra exercise makes you sleep better.  

4)  Kids are kids.
"According to the Be Out There campaign from the National Wildlife Federation, the average time a child spends in unstructured outdoor play has plummeted to 4-7 minutes a day, while childhood obesity rates have skyrocketed."  (KOA site cited below)  When you're camping kids get to run around and play for hours on end.  They get to do what kids do best...play!  I know we always bring a few balls and various outdoor toys for the girls to play with at the campsite.  

You also get to reconnect with nature and the people you're with.  I learn more about  the girls in the 3 days we're camping then I do in a month at home.  But you wanna know Ken's favorite  thing to do while we're camping?  GRILL!  

He actually could survive without a stove at all.  But grilling is actually a really healthy cooking method.  Why?  Well, let's find out:

1)  Less fat
When you grill animal products (beef, chicken, lamb, etc) the excess fat actually drips off.  You get rid of alot more of it then you do when you cook any other way.

2)  More vitamins and minerals
Grilling helps food hold onto it's vitamins and minerals.  Other methods of cooking cause foods to leach out the vitamins and minerals due to the water and temperature.

3)  Less bacteria.
E coli, Salmonella and other icky bacteria are killed by the high heat.

4)  Moisture locking 
When you grill the high heat cooks meat faster so it doesn't dry out.  This means that you don't need to add sauces, butter or anything that ups the calories and fat.

Super health food on a super healthy vacation.  What could be better?  Do you like healthy vacations or do you relax on your diet and exercise regimen on vacation?

Links:
Akron Ohio Moms: Benefits to Grilling
Botsford Hospital: 4 Health Benefits of Grilling
BenefitsOf.Net: Benefits of Grilling
Grilling With Rich: Health Benefits of Grilling For the General Population and Those with Chronic Intestinal Disease
Rhode Island Roads Magazine: Many Health Benefits to Camping
Yahoo Voices: Benefits to Camping
Readers Digest: Health Benefits to Camping
Buzzle: Benefits of Camping
Koa: 5 Reasons Camping is Good for You

Getting into the Swim of Things

Today was my swim day.  I honestly forgot how much I adore swimming.  It's so freeing.  Nothing hurts while I'm swimming.  (Click HERE and HERE to see the benefits of swimming on joints)

It's a total body workout without the feel of a total body workout (until you get out of the pool and your legs feel like jelly.)  Swimming 1 mile is the equivalent of running 4 miles!  Don't ask me how fast because I don't know.  I managed to do over a mile in under an hour.  That beats my normal time by about 30 minutes!  

According to SparkPeople.com my 50 minutes of swimming burned about 404 calories.  I paired that with my healthy dinner of catfish, green beans and a sweet potato.  It was a perfect day.  (Besides the fact that it decided to turn cold today.)

Some days I wish that my future job let me work in the pool all day but, I'm happy at the gym, and I have no plans on changing my career plans.  

I'll be giving you guys a new recipe soon.  Also a cookbook and diet book review coming in a few days.  It's been a busy few days and I have loads of info for y'all.  

Do you like to swim?  Do you prefer to be in the gym, or in the pool?  

Prompt :  How would you start saving the world if you woke up tomorrow with superhuman powers?
Answer:  I'd have to give the world healthy food and rid it of the bad food.  (Sorry I'm on a health kick)